All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
The words mean the breath of life in the nostrils, with breath and the spirit of God used as two names for the same thing. It is called the spirit of God because God breathed it into man at creation and keeps it where the breath belongs as long as life lasts. It is not a separate conscious person dwelling in the body, nor proof of a naturally immortal soul that lives on after death. When God takes that breath away the person dies and returns to dust, remaining unconscious until God restores the same breath in the resurrection. That breath from God is the source of all life and of all the powers of man's being, so life itself is sustained by Christ and entrusted to be used for Him.
Words and Setting
Breath and the spirit of God stand in parallel as synonymous terms for the same breath of life in the nostrils. The word spirit here means breath, to breathe, to blow. It denotes the breath God gave, present in a person while that person lives, and the life by which a person lives. It is the common atmosphere that fills the lungs and sustains bodily heat and life.
This breath is called the spirit of God because it came from God. God placed the breath of life in the nostrils where it belongs, and spirit and breath of life are the same thing. The spirit of God is in the nostrils as long as life lasts, and a person’s life continues while that breath remains there. The breath God gave at creation is spirit, located in the nostrils, and it is this breath-spirit that departs at death.
The word for breath is n’shah-mah, a word also translated spirit elsewhere and used for the breath or life of humans and animals. Job’s resolve is placed within the time his breath remains in him. He maintains his integrity and insists that he will not admit guilt where he has committed no wrong, calling on God to judge him if any moral stain is found in him. This falls within the debate between Job and his three friends about his afflictions, which spans chapters 4 to 31.
Mortal Nature and Death
The spirit in the nostrils is the breath which God gave, the breath of the Almighty that gives life, and a person's life continues only while that breath remains in the nostrils. It is the same breath of life breathed into man's nostrils at creation when man formed of the dust of the ground became a living soul. This breath is the life-principle called soul, spirit, or breath, by which a person lives and is made alive, animating humans as well as animals and sustaining life through breathing. It is the life common to animal creation, not a separate conscious part of the person that survives death, and God imparts life through it to His animate creation.
That spirit is not a separate, naturally immortal person dwelling in the body, not an immortal soul dwelling in the nose. Breath and the spirit of God stand in parallel for the breath of life God gave, present in a person's nostrils while that person lives, understood in its first sense as the life principle rather than an independently immortal part. It does not prove pre-existence of the soul, nor a conscious person who continues in a happy existence after death. When it returns to God it is not the person himself going to live with God, for the person dies.
When God takes this breath away the living creature dies, and the body without it is dead. At death this breath or spirit returns to God who gave it, for the righteous and the wicked alike, meaning God withdraws and keeps the breath He gave and gathers His spirit and breath to Himself. Then all flesh perishes together and man turns again to dust, the unmaking of man back into dust and breath as before it was breathed into him. The dead so remain unconscious with perished thoughts until the sound of the last trump, and when that breath returns to God at death life has ended. The same breath that departs from man at death is the breath God will restore to him in the resurrection of the dead.
This breath is the common atmosphere that fills the lungs and sustains bodily heat and life, inhaled and exhaled through the nose. Yet saying that God's spirit is in the nostrils does not mean that God's Spirit is nothing but atmospheric air, nor does it imply that the term has no other meaning. To identify it simply with air, as those who make the breath inhaled and exhaled through the nose to be atmospheric air do, is rejected.
Life from God Applied
The breath in the nostrils is the Spirit of God breathed into man at his forming, and that Spirit is the source of all life, all divine law, and all the forces of nature. It is the secret energy of all things and the all-power belonging to God, working out God's will through His laws. Breathed into man, it became the source of all the powers of his being. By breathing His Spirit into man's physical organization, God wrote His law, His moral image, in human nature, so that all the powers of man's being are God-given powers entrusted to be improved.
Human life and breath depend on the spirit of God in the nostrils, which is the life that animates and enables a person to live. As the first man began to live through life given by God, so sinners are restored to life by that same divine source. The breath that sustains life comes from Christ, and life itself is evidence that God has already provided salvation, finished in Christ's work on the cross. A person's part is to believe in what God has done through Christ.
As long as life and breath remain in a person, that person should continue giving all that can be given.
The words mean the breath of life in the nostrils, with breath and the spirit of God used as two names for the same thing. It is called the spirit of God because God breathed it into man at creation and keeps it where the breath belongs as long as life lasts. It is not a separate conscious person dwelling in the body, nor proof of a naturally immortal soul that lives on after death. When God takes that breath away the person dies and returns to dust, remaining unconscious until God restores the same breath in the resurrection. That breath from God is the source of all life and of all the powers of man's being, so life itself is sustained by Christ and entrusted to be used for Him.
Words and Setting
Breath and the spirit of God stand in parallel as synonymous terms for the same breath of life in the nostrils. The word spirit here means breath, to breathe, to blow. It denotes the breath God gave, present in a person while that person lives, and the life by which a person lives. It is the common atmosphere that fills the lungs and sustains bodily heat and life.
This breath is called the spirit of God because it came from God. God placed the breath of life in the nostrils where it belongs, and spirit and breath of life are the same thing. The spirit of God is in the nostrils as long as life lasts, and a person’s life continues while that breath remains there. The breath God gave at creation is spirit, located in the nostrils, and it is this breath-spirit that departs at death.
The word for breath is n’shah-mah, a word also translated spirit elsewhere and used for the breath or life of humans and animals. Job’s resolve is placed within the time his breath remains in him. He maintains his integrity and insists that he will not admit guilt where he has committed no wrong, calling on God to judge him if any moral stain is found in him. This falls within the debate between Job and his three friends about his afflictions, which spans chapters 4 to 31.
Mortal Nature and Death
The spirit in the nostrils is the breath which God gave, the breath of the Almighty that gives life, and a person's life continues only while that breath remains in the nostrils. It is the same breath of life breathed into man's nostrils at creation when man formed of the dust of the ground became a living soul. This breath is the life-principle called soul, spirit, or breath, by which a person lives and is made alive, animating humans as well as animals and sustaining life through breathing. It is the life common to animal creation, not a separate conscious part of the person that survives death, and God imparts life through it to His animate creation.
That spirit is not a separate, naturally immortal person dwelling in the body, not an immortal soul dwelling in the nose. Breath and the spirit of God stand in parallel for the breath of life God gave, present in a person's nostrils while that person lives, understood in its first sense as the life principle rather than an independently immortal part. It does not prove pre-existence of the soul, nor a conscious person who continues in a happy existence after death. When it returns to God it is not the person himself going to live with God, for the person dies.
When God takes this breath away the living creature dies, and the body without it is dead. At death this breath or spirit returns to God who gave it, for the righteous and the wicked alike, meaning God withdraws and keeps the breath He gave and gathers His spirit and breath to Himself. Then all flesh perishes together and man turns again to dust, the unmaking of man back into dust and breath as before it was breathed into him. The dead so remain unconscious with perished thoughts until the sound of the last trump, and when that breath returns to God at death life has ended. The same breath that departs from man at death is the breath God will restore to him in the resurrection of the dead.
This breath is the common atmosphere that fills the lungs and sustains bodily heat and life, inhaled and exhaled through the nose. Yet saying that God's spirit is in the nostrils does not mean that God's Spirit is nothing but atmospheric air, nor does it imply that the term has no other meaning. To identify it simply with air, as those who make the breath inhaled and exhaled through the nose to be atmospheric air do, is rejected.
Life from God Applied
The breath in the nostrils is the Spirit of God breathed into man at his forming, and that Spirit is the source of all life, all divine law, and all the forces of nature. It is the secret energy of all things and the all-power belonging to God, working out God's will through His laws. Breathed into man, it became the source of all the powers of his being. By breathing His Spirit into man's physical organization, God wrote His law, His moral image, in human nature, so that all the powers of man's being are God-given powers entrusted to be improved.
Human life and breath depend on the spirit of God in the nostrils, which is the life that animates and enables a person to live. As the first man began to live through life given by God, so sinners are restored to life by that same divine source. The breath that sustains life comes from Christ, and life itself is evidence that God has already provided salvation, finished in Christ's work on the cross. A person's part is to believe in what God has done through Christ.
As long as life and breath remain in a person, that person should continue giving all that can be given.